Here's a headline from today's Tampa Bay Times. "Salary cap rules ensure Bucs' increased spending". This headline, or at least that which it implies and certainly that which it explains is false, and yet it's something I see repeated quite often. There will be a salary cap floor, and therefore the Buccaneers will have to spend! But that simply isn't true.

Starting this year, there will be salary cash floor in place. But that salary floor in cash will not force the Buccaneers to spend. For one, it's set at 89% of the salary cap. With the cap expected to be around $121 million, that'd give the Bucs (and every other NFL team) a target of $107.69 million. The Bucs have around $81 million in pure salary committed to this season, by my accounting, but counting in some bonuses not covered by salary and rookie contracts yet to be signed they should be able to reach that target easily without splurging in free agency in any way.

But that's not the biggest problem with this story. The biggest issue is that the salary cash floor does not apply to a single year. Instead, it applies to the four-year period running from 2013 through the 2016 season. Every NFL team must spend 89% of the salary cap cumulatively over those season.